Mixed Up
by Wild Angel 190
Summary: More things going on between Rogue and Pyro....
1. Pyro's Hope

Chapter 1  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All of them belong to Marvel comics. (Except Joey and Clarice, they're only a minor character)  
  
Author's note: Please R/R. Hope you will enjoy this story.  
  
*****  
  
"Hey Jubs, over here," Kitty shouted to Jubilee at the canteen. Jubilee approached the table. Sitting at the table were Rogue, Kitty and Bobby, with two extra chairs, one already saved for Jubilee.  
  
"You know I hate being called that! How many times do I have to tell you that," Jubilee raised her voice at Kitty. She just giggled while she was being 'scolded' by Jubilee. Jubilee finally sat down at the chair beside Rogue after she had finished with Kitty.  
  
Jubilee paused for a while before she finally said, "Aren't you going to invite John here too?"  
  
"No way, I don't trust that fire boy anymore. He had betrayed us all and he still dared to come back here," Bobby replied in some sort of angry tone.  
  
"I still don't really trust him too, but I think we should give him a chance. He just made a mistake he went with Magneto. At least he realized what he'd done and came back here," Bobby's girlfriend, Rogue, trying to convince Bobby.  
  
"Anyway, now he seems to be happy now with his new group of friends. Bet he is happier there being naughty as usual with them than over here," Bobby said while staring at the group John was with across the canteen. Rouge was not sure whether he was jealous or made that as another excuse not to befriend John.  
  
"Come on, he's been here for almost a week already. He's done nothing wrong so far since he came here. If the Professor can accept him back here, we can almost be convinced he really wants to return on our side again," Rogue still trying to convince Bobby. It was not always easy to convince him.  
  
"Now he's making friends with those guys who I don't really know very well. They seem to be gangster-like. Who are they anyway?" Kitty asked.  
  
"The Chinese boy is Joey Wang. He's in my History class. I think he's the naughtiest boy in class," Jubilee answered.  
  
"The curly blonde haired girl is Clarice Lark, isn't she?" Rogue asked. "I can recognize by those big earrings she wears every day,"  
  
"If I can't trust those guys, then why can I trust John, plus he'd done far worse things than they'd done," Bobby said.  
  
"Bobby, can you please stop it. I've had enough. John had once been our friend. We should try and help him instead," Rogue tried to stop Bobby again.  
  
"Whoa, tension is going on around here. Let's just eat, I've hardly touched my food yet," Jubilee butted in before anyone could say anything else.  
  
*****  
  
Meanwhile, John was enjoying himself at the table across the canteen. He was actually enjoying daydreaming while flicking his Zippo lighter. He was not paying attention to the others. The others were busy talking some bad things about the teachers in the school.  
  
John kept thinking about Rogue. Nobody ever knew that he had a crush on Rogue. He had that crush ever since the first time he set his eyes on her. He imagined how beautiful she was with her auburn hair and white streak. There was always this smile on her face every time he saw her. He had been longing to touch her but he knew she would not allow him to, and Bobby would be even angrier with him for getting close to Rogue.  
  
John thought he had lost to Bobby already. Bobby made a move first and now Rogue had been going out with Bobby for almost two years already. John was shy to ask Rogue out as he thought she did not really like him. He did not have a chance anymore to get closer to Rogue.  
  
"Hey, Pyro, you've been daydreaming down there. What is it about?" Joey snickered at him. He had been caught. John snapped out of his daydream immediately.  
  
"I got to return my plate first. Be right back," John immediately answered. He tried to get away from them for a while. Too immersed back in his daydream, he knocked into someone. He looked up and saw it was Rogue.  
  
"Sorry," he guessed she was not going to start any conversation so might as well he apologized and walk away.  
  
"It's ok, no harm done," Rogue just replied back. John quickly walked away. Rogue just stood there for a while deciding whether to try to talk to him. She decided she was just going to leave him alone. Both of them had nothing to do with each other anyway since John followed Magneto.  
  
But still, John thought somehow he still had to get closer to Rogue now that he got the chance. Bobby and him were sort of enemies already, so why would he care whether it would affect their friendship even worse than it was before. He thought of a way to get closer to her. He knew Rogue loved Bobby, but could it be possible that he got a chance that Rouge could love him as well?  
  
*****  
"Dr.Cayne, how's the experiment going on?" The professor asked his old student, who was working on some sort of machine.  
  
"There's still something wrong with the machine, professor, I'll have to check it thoroughly again and repair it. It may take a while longer," Dr.Cayne replied.  
  
Suddenly, the machine sounded. It shook vigorously and lit up. It worked suddenly although no one operated it. It was not supposed to work then. After a few minutes, the machine broke down. Everything turned quiet again.  
  
"What has just happened Dr.Cayne?" the professor asked.  
  
"I think it has just worked. Now it breaks down again like the way it was before," Dr.Cayne answered.  
  
"But there was no one to operate, was there? We aren't affected," the professor asked again.  
  
"I'm afraid it was powerful that it affected somebody else, outside this lab. We have to find out who are those affected," Dr.Cayne sighed.  
  
"I'll have to find out who they are fast. Right now, forget about the machine for a while. Follow me, help me figure out how to help them," the professor immediately went out of the lab, back to his office. 


	2. What happened?

Chapter 2  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All of them belong to Marvel comics.  
  
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews. Please R/R again. Hope you will enjoy this story.  
  
*****  
  
Rogue's alarm clock just rang. She woke up immediately but something was weird. The pillow did not seem as comfortable as usual. The ceiling was not the same colour as usual when she wakes up every morning.  
  
Rogue got up from the bed. Around her the place was messy. Shirts were everywhere around her part of the room. The positions of the furniture in the room were different from the usual spots. Kitty and Jubilee weren't sleeping on their beds. Instead, there was Bobby sleeping at the other side of the room. Rogue decided not to wake him up; she knew he always woke up later.  
  
Rouge went to the bathroom and washed her face to make sure her eyes were not playing tricks on her. Or maybe it was only a dream. The bathroom sure still looked different from the one in her usual room. She looked up the mirror. There was John's face reflected on the mirror and not hers. John was not around. She looked up again. There was John again, could be seen wearing an old shirt. She then realized she was wearing the same old shirt like the one John was wearing. Was that Rogue or John on the mirror??  
  
*****  
  
John woke up as usual early in the morning. He was perspiring, as he was hot under the blanket. Usually he slept on top of his blanket, but then he was under it. He decided to take a bath to cool him down.  
  
John got out of his bed to find out everything in the room was different. His part of the room was neat, no shirts lying around. The girls, Kitty and Jubilee, were sleeping in the same room. There should be no girls in his room, so how come they were there in the same room?  
  
John saw Rogue at the mirror on the wardrobe. Rogue was not in the room, so how could she be on the mirror? He turned around to make sure there was really no Rogue, when he tripped and fell. He got up to see he was actually in a nightgown! It was a light blue one; same as the one Rogue was wearing on the mirror.  
  
John could not believe he was inside Rogue, or became her. He had no idea what happened to him. He screamed; shocked to see himself as Rogue. It was Rogue's scream all right. The girls were awakened by the scream.  
  
"Rogue, what happened?" Kitty asked, kind of worried.  
  
"I just saw a cockroach, that's all," John lied. He realized she was calling him Rogue.  
  
"It's only a cockroach, you don't have to scream like that. Good thing you didn't cry now like last time," Jubilee laughed.  
  
"Rogue cried? I mean, did I?" John asked, stifling a laugh. He almost gave himself away.  
  
"You can't even remember? You almost cried in the canteen then! It was kind of embarrassing I heard you say,"  
  
"Haha, anyway, I gotta go now, errr, meet Bobby," John said, trying to escape. He ran out of the room, thinking he could find out what happened to his body in his own room.  
  
*****  
  
John ran along the corridor heading for his room. He hoped to meet himself there. He turned around a corner and bumped into someone. "You??" John and Rouge said surprisingly at each other.  
  
"Are you really Rogue?" the real Rouge asked.  
  
John thought that Rogue might have guessed, so he felt it was safe to answer," Errr, not really, how about you?"  
  
"No, are you me?"  
  
"Literally, yes I guess,"  
  
Rogue and John just stood there stunned. They screamed in shock or probably just time to face the truth.  
  
"What are you guys doing down there?" Bobby suddenly woke up by the scream.  
  
"Hurry, hide behind the wall before he finds out we are here,"  
  
They hid behind the wall. When Bobby opened the door, he realized no one was outside anymore so he decided to go back and change for breakfast.  
  
"I don't know what happened to us but we can't let anyone find out we're like this!" Rogue told John.  
  
"Yea, I think for the first time, I agree with you. But does that mean we have to pretend to be each other?"  
  
"I guess so. First thing this morning I have to meet Bobby later in the canteen, since you're pretending to be me, I guess you have to follow my schedule and everything I'm supposed to do,"  
  
"You can't just dump everything on me like that! Anyway, later you will be joining Joey and gang like I always do. Just take one step at a time, ok?"  
  
"Fine, just try pretending to be me with Bobby and the others and I'll pretend to be you with Joey and gang. After that I think we should meet again to plan what we're going to do for the rest of the day. We don't have time already now. We better hurry up and change before Bobby gets out,"  
  
"I got a feeling this is going to be a long day," John whispered under his breath. 


	3. Commotion At Breakfast

Chapter 3  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All of them belong to Marvel comics.  
  
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews. Please R/R again. Hope you will enjoy this story. From now on, please take note that for the case of Rouge/Marie and John/Pyro, I will be writing the names of the real self, not the body they are in.  
  
*****  
  
By the time John went down to the canteen to eat breakfast with Bobby and the girls, they were already there. Usually Bobby would be the last to be down. Well, since he usually went down to the canteen quite early, he would notice what happened every morning.  
  
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," John said. 'Hope I didn't mess it up,' he thought.  
  
"Where did you go after seeing that cockroach?" Jubilee asked. Kitty giggled.  
  
"Like I said I was going to meet Bobby," John replied.  
  
"No, you didn't. I didn't see you this morning," Bobby asked confused.  
  
"Oh, after that I decided to turn back to change first," John was desperately trying to make up a story.  
  
"Oh I see, anyway I got to go for my Literature class now. I have to prepare my books first for class. It's 8.15 now. Bye" Kitty stood up and returned her tray before making her way up to her room.  
  
"I never realized it's 8.15 now. I gotta go to, see you, bye," John quickly stood up.  
  
"Aren't you going to eat breakfast?' Bobby asked.  
  
"No time, see you later," John walked away. He turned to see how was Rouge doing. She was still at the table with his friends. He waited for her at the staircase outside the canteen. Luckily, nothing had gone completely wrong. He hoped it was the same thing with Rogue.  
  
*****  
  
"Rogue's acting strange today isn't she?" Bobby asked Jubilee.  
  
"I know. Too bad he has gone off early. I was thinking to play a little cockroach prank on him. He reminded me about that idea this morning."  
  
"Hey, good one. I think I shouldn't be doing this as her boyfriend, but her clothes are weird today. Red turtleneck on a hot day, tight purple pants and platform shoes."  
  
"Haha, it's really funny," Jubilee laughed.  
  
"Hey what's going on over there?"  
  
"David is playing another prank of his on John. Surprisingly, John is freaking out right now," Jubilee answered Bobby's question.  
  
"Haha, serves him right. I'm glad David is doing that for me," Bobby somewhat snickered.  
  
*****  
  
Meanwhile, Rogue was having a problem at the other side of the canteen. Just as she placed her breakfast on the table and left it alone for a few seconds. She was thinking so far had been not bad, at least nothing went badly wrong. She did not know what was going on under her face.  
  
David, a boy also part of the usual gang, had apparently put a frog inside her bowl of soup. Just as she dug into her soup, the frog leaped out onto the pants she was wearing. She freaked out. She screamed in shock of seeing the frog. She stood up and swept the frog away. She felt she had enough already from these guys for one morning. She walked away briskly hoping not to meet them again for the rest of the day.  
  
She could see the rest of the students' faces looking at her. Her scream sure did attract attention. She could see Bobby and Jubilee looking at her too with giggles. She imagined if they knew that was actually Rouge being humiliated in front of other people. For two years already, they were actually nice people. Imagining those guys John's with alongside her friends made the guys even worse than she could imagine. She would not know how she could survive being with the gang any longer, especially after the incident just now. She decided she was going to ask the professor.  
  
She was still deep in thought as she walked out of the canteen. Just as she was walking up the stairs, John grabbed her from behind a wall  
  
"I saw what happened just now. And that was so humiliating. To ME," John raised his voice a bit. Rouge can tell he was angry after being humiliated.  
  
"And you think it's my fault? I can't help it if I was shocked. I'm not as brave as you," Rouge raised her voice as well. She could not cope anymore with John's selfishness.  
  
"That kind of thing could make me be humiliated for the rest of my life here!"  
  
"Hey, you think you're the only one who's humiliated. I just can't get away from humiliation for a single day!"  
  
"How did we end up like this anyway? This thing is turning my day, even my life upside down,"  
  
"Excuse me, Marie, John, the professor wants to see both of you in his office right now," Jean Grey came into the scene. They looked up to see not only Jean, but a few other people are there too, looking interested in their argument. Rogue and John went up the stairs heading for the professor's office without talking to each other.  
  
"Now, the rest of you, please get ready for your classes now. Get going," The rest all dispersed in different directions noisily. The school had enough commotion already for one morning. 


	4. Talk with Prof Xavier

Chapter 4  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men!!  
  
Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews! They're really encouraging. Please R/R again as usual for this next chapter. O yeah, and thanks to a person who reviewed who told me Rogue is wrongly spelled in the previous chapters. If she hadn't told me that, I think I would keep making those mistakes. Anyway get on with the story.  
  
*****  
Rogue and John arrived in front of Professor Xavier's office. They had not been speaking. The professor asked them to come in telepathically (in their minds).  
  
They went into the office. It was huge with many bookshelves with the line windows. The professor was waiting at the end of the room behind his big table with many chairs. "Please sit down."  
  
"Yes, professor, what is it you want with the both of us?" Rogue asked.  
  
"I want to speak to the both of you about your problem, I believe both of you have, don't you," the professor nodded at Rogue (in John's body). It was obvious he already knew.  
  
"What's happening to us? I woke up this morning in Rogue's body, clothes and all," John asked this time.  
  
"Well, last night there was this machine my old student and I were working on, a machine to switch bodies. There was something wrong with it and somehow the both of you were affected." Professor Xavier said calmly.  
  
"Switch bodies? Never heard of such thing before," John was shocked at the story.  
  
"Yes, that's the truth. I won't tell what this machine is all about. Now let's deal with this problem first.  
  
"All I care now is can we get back to normal?" Rogue was already a bit impatient to find out more.  
  
"We're working on it now. We have to repair the machine first, that may take about 2 to 3 weeks."  
  
"So long! Even for one morning I cannot stand being in her body." John looked at Rogue.  
  
"I understand, I'm sorry for this mix-up. But while you are like this, you two will have to adapt how to live like each other. It's like you will be pretending to be each other."  
  
"Me living to be him? I don't think so,"  
  
"Both of you are not to make other people suspicious of you. You are not to tell what had happened to the both you. Just try to act as normal as possible."  
  
"How can we be normal? Even this morning's incident makes me unnormal already, that is if I can get back to my own body and live almost as normal as possible," John sneered.  
  
"Well, you two will have to work that out yourselves. Help each other out. And I don't want a commotion like this morning. Remember to behave yourselves still, even an incident of accidental switching bodies won't excuse you from misbehaving."  
  
"O no, I have a bad feeling about this."  
  
"Well we don't have a choice do we, professor?"  
  
"Sure we have Rogue, my choice would rather be locking myself up in my room listening to music." John snapped.  
  
"You just can't be doing that for so long until we're out of it. What am I supposed to do?"  
  
"Whatever you want to do. I don't care. Just as long as it's not humiliating."  
  
"Erghh, you are so selfish John."  
  
"Can't help it. I'm stuck in your body so it's my choice now to do whatever I need to survive."  
  
"Ahem, there the both of you go again. Just remember what I said. Now, the both of you should be getting ready for next classes now. No excuse for you to miss class. Only Jean and myself know about this. And please check with each other which class you are supposed to go too."  
  
"Well goodbye professor. Don't worry, I'll just be in my bed doing nothing." John said sarcastically.  
  
"No, you're not! You're not leaving me alone by myself!"  
  
"You two, just help each other out and remember what I said, you will be fine. Have a good day ahead of you."  
  
"Sometimes the professor is just not understanding enough," Rogue whispered under her breath. 


	5. Their First Classes

Chapter 5  
  
Disclaimer: The X-Men is not mine! But this story is mine and only mine, muahahaha!  
  
Author's note: Thanks again for all reviews. Read this next chapter and review again! Anyway for your information, I changed my pen name since at first fanfiction.net added a number to my pen name and so I changed it to my own, 190 is my number. (Remember! Rogue is John/Pyro and John is the other way round)  
  
***** Rogue and John had to get ready for their next lessons, though they did it unwillingly. Rogue had Physics next which John took while John had to go for English Literature class. Both of them had never attended these classes before so this would be their first time in a totally unfamiliar class and subject.  
  
Rogue was almost late when she arrived at John's Physics class. Ms.Hepburn was already sitting on her table and the whole lab was already filled with students. The students were mostly playing while waiting for class to start. Rogue could see the gang John was usually with sitting in one big group. She knew it was best not to sit close to them because of what happened that morning.  
  
She looked across the room and found Jubilee sitting at the back of the room with her friend, Maria. There was an empty seat beside her so she decided to seat there. Jubilee just smiled at her and continued to talk to her friend while Maria just glared at her and never looked in her direction anymore.  
  
Class started with a surprise.  
  
"Now there is going to be a test on what you have learned for the past few weeks on heat. Please remove your books off the table, the test will begin soon," Ms.Hepburn told the class. The whole class groaned as they put away their books immediately.  
  
"Remember, the marks will be counted for your end of year results," Ms.Hepburn reminded the class made even more groaning. Rogue certainly hated this. She had been a failure in Physics. She hated it so much that she could not stand it.  
  
The 30 min test started. Immediately as Rogue turned the paper, she did not know how to do any of the questions. She was stuck at the first page. Finally she decided to try to ask someone, like what she usually did every time she did not know how to do a question in a test.  
  
"Spyke, do you know how to do the third question? I have no idea," she whispered to the boy next to him.  
  
"Man, don't ask me. You know you are better than I do," he replied and went back to his paper.  
  
"So, trying to cheat here, John?" Ms.Hepburn stood beside her table. It did not work this time. That meant she got a zero for that test (fine!) and detention on Thursday (hate detentions, I got something else better to do, at least locking myself in my room doing nothing seems like a better idea).  
  
*****  
  
John arrived at Mr.Summers' (Scott) class just on time. John went to the only seat left, at the front of the class. Beside him was one of those whom he called 'nerds'. Behind him was Bobby Drake who smiled at him. But John did not smile back at him and just seated in his seat.  
  
The class had nothing to dread about. But John just dreaded Literature. He found the subject boring, especially when then they were doing Shakespeare. He never thought Scott could be teaching this boring subject. He was usually the confident and firm leader of the X-Men team, while then he was talking only about Shakespearean plays.  
  
John was yawning all the time. He really felt like sleeping. Suddenly Scott called his name. "Marie, wake up!" Scott shouted at him. John woke up with a sudden. Everyone was staring at him and some of them were in a fit of giggles. "If you sleep, just make sure you don't snore and disrupt my lesson." Everyone laughed loudly.  
  
Next, Scott asked for their Literature assignment. John did not have the Literature assignment. Rogue did not tell him about any assignments. From what he heard, Scott could get angry if anyone didn't hand in his work on time. He was going to get in trouble.  
  
Yep, that was the third time in a row within a month that Rogue did not hand in her work on time. So John got a detention, that Friday, with Ororo. He had to help clean up the school. John argued with Scott," Can't I just have a time out instead?"  
  
"You are not to argue about your detention, Marie. You can't hand in your work on time and the consequence is you have to go for a detention decided by the teacher. You are wasting my time," Scott answered him nicely, though his temper could be seen going up.  
  
"It is not my fault. I didn't know there is any assignment to be handed in by today." He felt like telling the whole world what happened to the both of them, Rogue and himself. No one could understand what happened; even the Professor could not help him now. He could not take advantage of this sort of weird incident, so why must he be the one to end up being stuck in someone else's body and get into trouble. And there would be more trouble to come.  
  
"No more excuses. You said you wanted a time out, then get out of my classroom!" He finally irritated Scott. John stood up, took up his (Rogue's) bag and walked out of the classroom. At least he could still lock himself up in his room, far better than gong for classes. But still, he would get into more trouble sooner or later. 


	6. Trouble Again

Chapter 6  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. I only own this story, the plot and everything else besides the characters  
  
Thanks for all reviews once again. I'm afraid after this one I won't be able to update the next few chapters very soon. I'll try to do my best. Reminder: Rogue is John/Pyro and John is the other way round!  
  
*****  
  
Finally it's lunchtime. Everyone rushed into the canteen and started queuing up for food. Rogue was one of the first in line and found a table away from the gang. It was not a good idea to sit with them after what happened that morning. She had never wanted to sit with them anyway.  
  
While Rogue had started eating her lunch of chicken chop, John caught her attention and headed for her table. Rogue for once really noticed John's outfit for the day. He was wearing her favourite red turtleneck, the tight purple pants which she hasn't worn for a long time (I thought the pants would be probably somewhere at the back of the closet right now) and her platform shoes. What a bad choice John had chosen, with bad colour combination Rogue thought. He had to be taught how to dress.  
  
"Aren't you going to seat with Bobby and the girls?" Rogue asked John.  
  
"Nope. They're your friends, not mine. Besides I can't imagine what sitting around Bobby will be like. He'll be flirting with me. The thought in my head right now is pretty disgusting." John replied really looked disgusted. He must be really thinking of some disgusting stuff right then. Rogue thought again John might have seen her with Bobby all this while since he had gone back to the mansion. Bobby and her had been closer than ever. She had never thought John would care about the both of them, she was thinking John was too busy with his new friends.  
  
John interrupted her thoughts. "Hello? Thinking about something?" He asked her but was not looking at her. He was instead playing with a lighter, his usual Zippo lighter.  
  
"Where did you get that lighter? I don't remember having it in my room. We girls don't keep lighters."  
  
"I didn't get this from your room. I got it from my room."  
  
"So you mean you sneaked into your room just now?"  
  
"Yea, when everyone was out. The door wasn't locked. So I went in to get the lighter."  
  
"I've been thinking of hiding it somewhere. Thought for once I wouldn't hear that irritating clicking sound." More clicking of the lighter, click, click. Finally Rogue got really irritated.  
  
"Give me that! I've had enough!" John was too fast for her. He quickly hid it behind his back. Then started a struggle. Rogue was trying to get that lighter out of his hands while John is juggling it back and forth between his two gloved hands. Then Rogue caught John's hand and trying to loosen his grip. 'Click'  
  
The lighter was open, and the small flame appeared in John's hands. Surprisingly, Rogue's hands just felt warm. Meanwhile, John withdrew his hands from the lighter and Rogue caught it in her hands. John must have felt kind of hot with Rogue's hands.  
  
Within a split second, the flame from Rogue's hand burst out of her hands. How unlucky was the person who just passed by then, David (the person who played the prank on Rogue just that morning). The flame burst right in his direction and his head caught a bit of the fire!  
  
"You're in big trouble with that guy, Pyro," John just stood there watching David's head caught fire. Actually, he was kind of glad his head was burnt. He deserved it. Meanwhile, Rogue stood there still on the ground, just stunned to see what she had done.  
  
"Hello? You're in big trouble here! You better get out of his way before he kills you!" David had already extinguished the fire. He had used his telekinesis to pour the bucket of water nearby over his head. "I'm going to get you, fire boy!"  
  
Rogue just stood there not knowing what to do. This boy was going to kill her yet she did not want to just run away. David raised his hands, trying to knock her out with the table he was trying to lift up. Rogue missed it by a few inches. Many other things came flying her way. She dodged all of them. She really did not know what else to do.  
  
Rogue saw John removing the gloves on his hand. Then he helped her knock David out by absorbing the energy out of him by touching his bare hands. David fell to the floor not having enough energy left to stand. John floated the table over him and landed it on top of him so he was trapped.  
  
"Let's go," John walked out of the scene. Rogue followed still turning back to see how was David. John really did not care. Wish she could be more like him, the tough guy he was.  
  
"Next time, I'm going to get the both of you!" David still had the energy to threaten them.  
  
*****  
  
When they were out of the canteen, Rogue kept up till he was with John's pace. "You really don't care about hurting people, do you?"  
  
"Why should I care? They shouldn't mess with me in the first place."  
  
"Well, as for the case just now, they didn't mess with you."  
  
"Just helping a friend. I just realized you are really pathetic," Rogue was curious what John felt when he absorbed his energy. Every time she sucked somebody's energy out, she felt the person inside her mind. They were always fighting with her thoughts. It was hard to get rid of them; they would always be stuck deep inside her brain. Now John was like nothing had happened.  
  
"John, what did you feel when you absorbed David's energy? Don't you feel anything?" Rogue asked.  
  
"I just don't bother about them. Who wants to be intimidated by David's dirty thoughts?"  
  
"But isn't it hard trying to get rid of his thoughts out of your mind? It's always uncomfortable whenever someone else's memories and thoughts are fighting with your other thoughts in your head."  
  
"Don't listen to them. Soon they wouldn't bother you anymore." For a few years already she had her power, but she never got control over it. While John could easily get rid of them although he had never had this power before. At least Rogue could learn something from him.  
  
"Actually, your power is pretty cool. I could knock that big guy out easily." John said, proud of what he had done.  
  
"Easy for you. I really hate having those powers."  
  
They walked up the stairs heading nowhere. They met Logan up the stairs, seem to be heading for the garage.  
  
"Hi Logan" Rogue called out to him.  
  
Logan did not answer. He did not want to bother with the boy. Rogue immediately realized and shut her mouth.  
  
"Hey Rogue, how ya doing?"  
  
Rogue had to nudge John to answer, "Fine, everything fine." He said it reluctantly. John had no interest in talking to this Logan. He did not know what was so nice about him that people actually bother to talk to him.  
  
They heard David's shouts and a few other people along with him.  
  
Rogue had to get John out of there. "Sorry, Logan, Rogue and I have some errands to do. See ya."  
  
"Errands? When was the last time I saw the two of them together?" Logan thought.  
  
Then he saw David and the other guys running up the stairs. They didn't seem to notice Logan standing down there.  
  
"What trouble did the both of them get to now?" Logan thought to himself. He began to get suspicious what they were up to.  
  
*****  
  
"What next? I've had enough of hiding from every single person we encounter!" Rogue said exasperatedly.  
  
Suddenly, Professor Xavier butted into their minds. 'Sorry to butt in, but please see Dr.Grey in her office right now. She needs to discuss something with you. And reminder, don't cause chaos in the school!' the professor raised his voice. He hardly did that.  
  
"Urgh, how many times do we have to be interviewed?" Rogue said again.  
  
"Today is really the worst day of my life I tell you." They were heading the opposite way of Jean Grey's office. So they had to turn back and walk past a few rooms before they arrived at her office. They knocked on her door. "Come in"  
  
"Please sit down," Jean ushered them politely.  
  
"So you two had been creating trouble again I see," Jean glared at the both of them. Rogue and John kept quiet.  
  
"Well anyway, I need to know how the incident happened. Marie, you were the one that released the fire, right?" Jean looked at Rogue.  
  
"Yes. I didn't mean to. I didn't know how I got hold of the fire." Rogue said truthfully.  
  
"Tell me what happened,"  
  
"Yeah, we were playing with a lighter, and I think it clicked open to release a flame. I thought I saw the flame on my hands and suddenly it was released. There was the outburst and David's head caught fire." She kept it short and simple.  
  
"John, that seems like your power doesn't it?" Jean said, this time to John. "And you did show Marie's power, that is you absorbed David's energy and powers," she added.  
  
"Yea, true."  
  
"And by the way, you know you shouldn't be using your powers against another student. Do you need to be reminded, Mr. Allerdyce?" Jean still kept her cool. John actually could not be bothered to answer, so he just kept quiet.  
  
"Especially when you're not familiar with each other's powers, you shouldn't be playing with them. Get it, the both of you?"  
  
"Yea, yea, we get it."  
  
"But I think besides that, you two should be trained at least to have control over your powers. I'll get back to you soon about it."  
  
"Yea, not again. I thought she's going to shut up about it at last," Rogue said to herself in her head.  
  
"And I'm not going to shut up about this matter. The both of you need to get out of trouble still." Oops, Jean had heard Rogue.  
  
"Now, get back to class. No lingering around the school." Jean led them out of her office. It seemed the teachers would be watching the both of them closely. 


	7. An Evil Plan

Chapter 7  
  
Disclaimer: Just make this clear, the characters don't belong to me. I'm getting tired of writing this for every single chapter.  
  
Author's note: Thanks for the reviews again. Sorry for the delay in updating, also in cases for the last few chapters. This chapter, I'm going deeper into the plot! I advise the readers should have read from the beginning to get the idea of the story.  
  
*****  
  
In Magneto's lair.  
  
"Erik, we have just heard news from our boy at Xavier's mansion," Mystique came into the room when Erik aka Magneto stood at one corner thinking really hard.  
  
"Ahhh, finally we heard from him. It's been quite a while since we heard any news from him. What is it now that he tells us?" Erik turned around to ask Mystique. He was interested in what his boy had to say.  
  
"This is a really interesting and weird one, Erik. But it may change our plans."  
  
"Yes, tell me. I need to hear it."  
  
"Just this morning, something had gone wrong in the mansion with Rogue and Pyro. They woke up to realize they had switched bodies overnight. He said it was because of a machine gone wrong that Charles was working on."  
  
"Go on. I'll ask questions later."  
  
"Yes, well they could only change back to their original bodies after about two to three weeks when Charles and his friend would have repaired the machine. Meanwhile, they would be trying to adapt living in each other's body."  
  
"This is certainly going to be interesting. So how are they going to live in each other's body for 3 weeks?" Magneto asked. Mystique glared at him. "Sorry, continue."  
  
"I was going to that. Anyway, many interesting things happened today. Rogue accidentally caused a fire because of Pyro's power in the body. We are sure then they are stuck with each other's powers along with the body."  
  
"This is bigger news than I expected. We will have to change our plans. It may be to our advantage and also to our advantage." Magneto turned serious.  
  
"But wouldn't it be easier? We don't have to bring Rogue here like our original plan. Pyro himself will come to us when we call him," Mystique trying to convince Magneto about the advantages.  
  
"Everything has a flaw in it. We have to plan it very carefully. Pyro must get used to his powers. One slight mistake may ruin everything," Magneto said, still worrying about the situation.  
  
"By what I know about Charles, he would help them with all he can to get through these 3 weeks. And from what I heard from the boy, the incident and the experiment with the machine is kept a secret, only known between Charles, that red-haired lady and those two."  
  
"Well, so far is very good for us already. A plan is already forming on my head. But I need to know more about this. For one thing, there's something going on with the experiment. I need to know what he's up to, I know Charles, I've had worked with him for more than 5 years, he's as cunning as me."  
  
"He didn't say anything about Charles. In fact, I bet there are a lot more things he could find out if he would just investigate a little further in that mansion. I'm afraid he's getting a little too comfortable already in the mansion," Mystique this time getting a bit worried already.  
  
"I say he should be as comfortable as possible in the mansion so no one will suspect anything about him, and about us being on the move again. From now on he must be more careful on making any move. But he should still be lifting up his butt to investigate around the mansion for us," Magneto agreeing with Mystique's perception of the boy in their league.  
  
"We can't just lay around down here while waiting for him to give us what's happening in the mansion. He's just a boy, a student in the mansion, he surely can't find out everything. Charles won't tell him everything about the machine. He still knows very little about it," said Mystique insisting they should do something to find out more. By the time she finished saying though, Magneto was already off somewhere else.  
  
"What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be listening to my advice?" asked Mystique wondering what he was doing.  
  
"For once please stop advising me what to do. I'm the boss here remember? How many times must I tell you that?" replied Magneto.  
  
"I just want us to do the right thing. We want the same thing right? We need Rogue and want to know what Charles is up to, and I'm telling you how to find out."  
  
"Yea, whatever. Listen, I got a plan already. I need you in this. You need to sneak into the mansion and get the files about the machine from Charles office or at least find out something about it. You may enlist the help of the boy in this if he is able to. Also try to find out how the both of them are doing."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Magneto gave an evil chuckle.  
  
*****  
  
A/N: Do you know already who's the boy in Magneto's league? I believe it's kind of obvious, and I think I mentioned his name somewhere. If you still don't know who he is, I'm not going make it clear to you. Just make it as some mysterious guy, it's more exciting right? 


	8. More things going on

Chapter 8  
  
Author's Note: Let's just say I will always appreciate your reviews and thank you for them. Yes, and sorry for the delay again. After this you will have to wait for quite a while again till the next chapter is updated, as usual. Now we continue back on what's happening in Xavier's mansion between Rogue and Pyro.  
  
***** Jean Grey entered the professor's office. The professor was sitting on his wheelchair staring at the sunset through the large glass windows. Jean knew the professor was deep in thought; he was never the type who would admire the sunset. She approached the table slowly and finally asked him, "What is it, professor?"  
  
The professor was silent for a moment until he answered, "I can feel Magneto is out there somewhere, plotting another plan. It's been quite a while since I have this feeling. But I've been expecting him to strike back some time."  
  
"It must be soon then that he will be back. Is it another plan against the humans again?"  
  
"I cannot tell, but he is feeling really evil this time. We must be prepared to stop him anytime."  
  
"Was it just recently you had this feeling or before this you had this feeling some time ago? If it was some time ago, we may find out from John," Jean suggested.  
  
"Recently only. And I believe you are here to talk about the case between John and Marie aren't you?"  
  
"Yes, professor. I think they need to be trained to have control of the powers they have now. With control, I don't think they will create mischief anymore around the school," Jean said.  
  
"Don't be so sure they won't be creating anymore mischief. But I agree we should make extra time for them to train. They really need it especially in a time of uncertainty like this. How about we use their detentions tomorrow for you to train them?" the professor asked.  
  
"What time? I won't be available till after 3.45."  
  
"4 o'clock will be fine then. I think you can use the danger room then till around 5.30. Make sure no one is there. And tell Ororo you are going to take over their detentions tomorrow by my orders."  
  
"Yes, professor."  
  
"Make sure you Ororo doesn't find out what we're doing, will you?"  
  
"Yes. Now I must be going," Jean said. She walked out of the office heading for her office just a few doors away.  
  
*****  
  
Rogue and John were bored at their Social Studies class. Every student was always bored during Social Studies lessons, but it was a requirement for them to attend these classes. Rogue was sitting at the back alone while John was sitting beside Bobby, because he always sat beside Rogue every lesson, with Jubilee and Kitty sitting nearby.  
  
About half an hour had passed, and John had found it rather annoying with Bobby keep passing him notes although he was just beside him. They couldn't possibly talk because Mr.Thomas could spot anyone talking even though he was always talking in front of the class. So far they had been passing notes tons of times, with a lot of 'I love you's from Bobby at the end of every note. He had been trying to organize a 'date' between the both of them that weekend, suggesting either watching a movie or having dinner at a fancy restaurant. John had just been replying with all the excuses he could think of to avoid the dates. Who knows what might happen, he saw Rogue flirting with Bobby a lot of times, even when he was hanging out with them. Probably they had gotten into the more intimate moves when he was gone. John shuddered at the thought.  
  
John was trying to ignore his notes by pretending to pay attention to Mr.Thomas' lecture. No use though. Bobby tossed him another note.  
  
Marie,  
Is there something wrong? Why can't you make it every single weekend? Are you avoiding me or is it something else?  
P.S: I always love you..  
  
John had to make up another answer. He was lazy to think up another excuse already so he just passed back the note to Bobby with 'Nothing.'. Bobby did not seem pleased with the answer.  
  
John wondered what Rogue is doing at the back. He turned around to see her scribbling on her notepad. Is she really paying attention? Or maybe she must be really bored. Bobby seemed to notice John looking back at Rogue. He really cannot take his eyes off his girlfriend who is meant to sit beside him.  
  
Then he passed another note:  
  
Why were you looking at John just now?  
  
John had to reply to another one of his letters again. But he didn't know what to reply. Suddenly Mr.Thomas stood in front of him, glaring.  
  
"Busy doing your own things, Marie? Then get out of my class if you're not interested in what I have to say," he ordered.  
  
Before John could pack up his things, there was a knock on the door. It was Jean, asking for Rogue and John again. John was saved but had yet to meet Jean again. The both of them got out of their seats and walked out of the classroom. Jean was waiting outside for them.  
  
"This concerns your detentions today. I have taken over Ororo to oversee your detentions. And instead later we will have training to control your 'temporary' powers. Please be at the danger room at 4 o'clock this afternoon. Don't be late," Jean said.  
  
"Oh great. No difference to detentions," John grumbled.  
  
"And in repayment for your missing detentions today, you will have training every Thursday at the same time. We may even need more trainings in case of emergency," Jean added.  
  
"This is even worse than having detentions," Rogue's turn to grumble.  
  
"What emergency? What are you talking about?" John asked. He seemed to sense something.  
  
"Let's just say in any case we really need to use our powers. The usual," Jean answered him. John understood what she meant. He felt she knew something was up but he tried to ignore it then and leave it till later.  
  
"Well, be there at 4 sharp. And remember not to let anyone know about this. I trust you will stick to the detention as the excuse," Jean reminded. She walked away. The bell rang signaling for lunch. Rogue and John went back inside the class to grab their bags and head to the canteen. They were still unhappy with their extra training arrangements.  
  
"Hey, where are you going?" John asked Rogue seeing she was turning left instead of going down the stairs.  
  
"I need to go to the wash room, I need to wake myself up from this nightmare I'm having, it seems I haven't woken up from my sleep this morning," Rogue replied walking swiftly along the corridor.  
  
"Yea, you are sleeping. You are supposed to got to the male's toilet on the right, remember? You better wake up."  
  
"Gosh, this is really real. Fine, see you later," said Rogue, now heading to the right corridor.  
  
"Hope you know how to use the toilet," John said again. He smirked and walked down the stairs.  
  
*****  
  
Rogue had been waiting in the danger room for quite a while already. Jean had just arrived at exactly 4 o'clock. Now the both of them were waiting for John to arrive. Rogue did not look forward to this training session, but she wished John could have come sooner so she would not be bored and alone there.  
  
Suddenly, the door burst open after a while of silence in the room. John came in, still with his bag and books. "Sorry I'm late," he said.  
  
"Why are you 5 minutes late?" Jean glared at him. She seemed to be the type of person who doesn't tolerate anyone who's late.  
  
"It's only 5 minutes! Anyway I got held up by Kitty and Jubilee. They kept pestering me with questions on how things are going one between you and Bobby." John's gaze shifted to Rogue. She stood at the corner without saying anything in reply.  
  
"Ok, let's get to business," said Jean in a business-like tone since she was in control. "The both of you start by getting to know each other's powers. Learn from each other how to control those powers. I'll leave you two alone for a while, later I'll be back and I'll help you to practice the powers," Jean told them and walked to the other corner of the room where her things are.  
  
"So tell me all about your powers, Mr.Allerdyce. I know you have no problem handling my powers after what happened yesterday," Rogue implied.  
  
"Well, I've been trained to handle these things," John replied.  
  
"Huh? What are you talking about," Rogue got confused with his answer.  
  
"Never mind about that," John had almost slipped something out of his mouth.  
  
"Well, let's just continue what we are supposed to do rather that wasting time here. I got a lighter here. You can teach me how to use your powers," Rogue said.  
  
"Fine then. Just light the lighter and shift the flame to your hand. Don't worry it won't hurt you. You will only feel warm." John taught Rogue. At first Rogue was a bit nervous but she became confident of handling the flame in her hand.  
  
"Then, it will just come naturally, the flame will get bigger or smaller according to your wishes," John instructed.  
  
"This is easier than I thought," Rogue said.  
  
"Controlling my power isn't that hard."  
  
"But as for mine, sometimes I just think it's a curse. I can't live my life as freely as I used to. Well, good thing I got you guys around here, I won't feel so lonely anymore. Thanks John, for being my friend."  
  
"Your welcome. Glad to have you around too."  
  
"Hey, maybe after this session, want to eat dinner with me? Maybe we can eat dinner outside in the garden rather than inside the mansion?" John invited Rogue.  
  
"Sure. It would be nice," Rogue answered simply. 


	9. Undercover

Chapter 9  
  
Hope you enjoy this chapter! And thanks for the reviews.  
  
John was lying down on his bed listening to his Linkin Park cd (He managed to sneak into his room to get it). He was bored on that Sunday morning with nothing to do. Then unlike being as usual leaving his homework till after dinner, he turned to his History homework. But he could not concentrate and found it too hard so he decided to do it with Rogue.  
  
Then Jubilee and Kitty came into the room. John dreaded being around them so he decided to leave the room as quickly as possible before they had the chance to speak to him. But the two girls managed to stop him and forced him to talk.  
  
"Hey, Rogue! Where have you been all this while? Hardly seen you around these few days beside in classes," asked Kitty.  
  
"Well, my teachers have been asking for me these few days," said John trying to make up an excuse.  
  
"Anything wrong with you? Tell us. You've been avoiding us. Bobby is worried for you," said Jubilee concerned.  
  
"Nothing. Really. I've just been busy these few days, that's all."  
  
"But I've seen you with John quite a number of times. Anything going on?" Kitty continued, interrogating him.  
  
"We've just bumped quite a number of times. Happen to be in the same place at the same time."  
  
"Hey, instead of being stuck here, why don't we go out to the mall with Bobby?" suggested Jubilee. John made a look that showed he was unsure about the idea.  
  
"Common! It's the weekend, time to hang out together. You've always liked shopping, don't you," Jubilee trying to persuade John to come with them. John immediately came up with an idea.  
  
"Ok then. But first, I'm going to see Bobby in his room and ask him to join us," he said to the other two and quickly left the room.  
  
"I'm sure something's going on with Rogue. She's been acting strangely lately," said Kitty to Jubilee.  
  
"Yea. I'm curious, want to find out what she's been up to? As a friend, I mean," suggested Jubilee. This girl seems to have a lot of ideas going on in her mind.  
  
"I bet it's more of your curiosity, Jubs. But I'm in, starting from right now?" Kitty agreed to join in the investigation.  
  
"Well, yeah, right now. But be careful not to hurt anymore of Rogue's feelings."  
  
"I'll be more careful of what you'll be doing later." And Kitty chased Jubilee out of the room while trying to look for Rogue along the way.  
  
*****  
  
John did not lie when he said that he would be going to his room. But he was actually looking for Rogue there. He made sure Jubilee and Kitty were not following him from behind. Then suddenly, someone startled him from behind. He pulled him to a dark room where he was hiding.  
  
It was just Rogue as usual in his body. But before John could say her name, he noticed it was not her. She got a dark mark that he recognized on her left wrist.  
  
"Mystique, you know this is me, don't you?" John asked, grinning.  
  
"Well, yes. I got your message just four days ago. I'm here to find out more about the machine that zapped you. Or you know something about it that you didn't tell me, boy?" replied Mystique.  
  
"Please stop calling me boy! I'm not a boy anymore!" yelled John.  
  
"Shush! Somebody can hear us in here! You should know better than that. I'm supposed to sneak into Charles' office and get files or documents of some kind about that machine. This is the right time to do so; he is away in the city right now. And you're supposed to help me with this," Mystique told him off.  
  
"Wow, you know that he is away right now? What kind of sources do you have?"  
  
"This is not a time to ask such stupid questions, boy. We have to get going now."  
  
"And stop calling me boy!" said John flaring again.  
  
"Boy, Pyro, whatever. This is not a time for arguments!" Mystique ordered. She looked around the corridor to see no one else. It would be best if no one saw them, or else those students would be obstructing their way with their talking.  
  
"Come, let's go and do this fast!" Mystique told John.  
  
They hurried down the corridor with John in the lead, all the way down the stairs until they were right at the door of the professor's office. There was no sign that he was inside. They tried to open the door but it was locked. Luckily, Mystique knew what to do to open the door. She picked the lock using a thin piece of rod.  
  
The door opened. The room was darker than usual as the curtains were drawn in and hardly any light penetrated through the windows. There were many cupboards and drawers containing books and files. Mystique then turned back to her original form with her blue scales.  
  
John was not sure where to start searching for the files they needed. But Mystique just always knew where to begin searching first. She started looking in the drawers of the professor's table first. There were a lot of files arranged neatly according to the subject. Meanwhile, John looked in the cupboard nearest to the table.  
  
While they were searching, Mystique initiated a conversation with John. "So, how has it been like being Rogue?"  
  
"Well, it sucks, duh. Having to do all her homework, being a lady, and even worse, having to hang out with her friends Jubilee, Kitty and worst of all Bobby. I really can't stand that jerk," John said, blabbing out all his grumbles for these past few days.  
  
"So how are the both you and Rogue going through together?" Mystique asked.  
  
"Well, good thing she isn't a jerk at least. I have one less thing to grumble about if I'm supposed to 'work' together with her."  
  
"You shouldn't always look at things negatively you know. It just makes you even more miserable. Try to get along with her and it wouldn't be that bad after all," said Mystique advising him.  
  
"Hey, how come you're the one encouraging me to get along with her? You are never so supportive before," John said wondering what Mystique is up to.  
  
"Well, you like her don't you? I'm sure you will go into her heart. I just need you to do a favour along the way." John's cheeks flushed when Mystique found out he actually liked her. He could not help hide his feeling but blush instead.  
  
"It's part of the plan isn't it?" John said, finally getting rid of his red cheeks.  
  
"Well, yes, even though you've got Rogue's genes and all in your body right now, we still need an important thing she has, her memories."  
  
"So you need to have her memories still to make this new Rogue look-alike mutant? This exchange of bodies' thing doesn't really make the plan simpler does it?"  
  
"Not really. In fact it makes it a bit more complicating I guess. Well, now at least you know what this is all about, you know what to do after that, don't you?"  
  
"Yea, only now I get what you mean. I'll figure out the rest by myself."  
  
"Yes, so first thing, get back to searching for those files," Mystique ordered. John just followed her orders even though deep inside he did not feel like doing it. Sometimes he did not really like those evil ideas, but he had no choice but to follow. In fact he himself had chosen to leave the X-Men and join the Brotherhood. He could not betray Magneto now; he would lead a meaningless life then, with nowhere to go. Sometimes he regretted joining Magneto on his quest to conquer the world. He did not know what overcame him then on that fateful day at Stryker's lab. He was just so angry at the world that it blinded him from what was going to come. Well, no way back then. John sighed.  
  
"What are you dreaming about? Get back to work!" snapped Mystique. John was alarmed then he realized he still had to search for those files. Not long after, he had found the file he needed, data on Rogue, a whole lot of pages about her, including records on her mutant evolution.  
  
"We're done here. Found everything about Rogue?" Mystique turned to John. John nodded.  
  
"Good, now we better hurry up and get out of here. I better leave the mansion right now."  
  
They got out of the professor's office, making sure everything was in order as it was before they came in. As a moment they walked out of the door, someone tapped John on the back. It was Rogue, the real Rogue in his body. John was real startled.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing here anyway?" said John nervously.  
  
"I'm trying to find you. The girls have been looking for you. Why are you here anyway?" asked Rogue.  
  
"Err, just taking a stroll. I want to get away from the girls, they're bugging me," excused John. Actually, it was kind of true at first.  
  
"Oh well, how about we go and do something else. What do you suggest?"  
  
"I got to go now actually. I remembered I have something going on," John replied hastily then turned around to walk away. But he saw Mystique was nowhere in sight. She should have been gone already. John realized she already took the files he was holding in his hand previously.  
  
"Oh well, I guess I would be able to after all. How about we go to the café at Sixth Street? We can grab a coffee there and take a walk some place else," John suggested.  
  
"Okay. Let's go then," answered Rogue gladly. 


End file.
